Built-up iron railway-sleeper.



M. MATTHAEI.

BUILT-UP IRON RAILWAY SLEEPER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV-29,1913.

1, 1 43,41 5., Patented June 15, 1915.

4 SHEETSSHEET 1- M. MATTHAEI. I BUILT-UP IRON RAILWAY SLEEPER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 29, I913.

Patented June 15, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

M. MATTHAEI.

BUILT-UP IRON RAILWAY SLEEPER. APPLICATION FILED NOV.29, 1913.

1,143,41 5., v Patented June 15, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3- M. MATTHAEI. BUILT-UP mow RAILWAY SLEEPER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 29, I913. 1,1@3,415, Patented June 15, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4. I

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Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 1111915, 1915.

. Application filed November 29,1513. SeriatNo. 803,765..

Toall whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, MAX MA'I'IHAEI, sub- .ject of the King of Prussia,.residin at 27 Beethovenstrasse, Frankfort-on-theain, in the GermanEmpire, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Built-Up ersof the type in which the sleeper comprises two supporting members ofchannel or similar section connected together by distance pieces.

, Built-up saddle-shaped sleepers have been proposed comprising singleor double angle irons spaced apart by top plates which, however,couer aconsiderable length of the space between the angle irons and thusionly acomparatively short section of the space between the angle irons can befilled with ballast from above. It has also been proposed to use twoangle orchannel ironswizth their vertical webs opposed and kept apart bythe chairs, but in this case, although the ballast mightbe filled intothe space between the vertical webs from above, the horizontal flangesform the main bearing surface and do not form a saddle-shaped bearingsurface. Owing, however, to the close spacing of sleepers at the presentday, it islvery difficult to properly pack the ballast up from below totheinner bearing: surface of saddleshaped sleepers, especially in thecase of broad joint-sleepers and. it is therefore the 7 object of thepresent invention to..provide a saddle-shaped sleeper which will readilyen ablethe ballast to be .filled in fromabovc, so that the constructionof permanent ways and the workof ballasting can be carried out rapidlyand still efficiently.

The improved sleeper not only embrace a larger amount of ballast toinsure better distribution of. the load, but also enables sufiicientballast; to bebedded both in front of and behind the sleeper-asto givesuflicient resistance against movement both in the directioniof thetrack and towardthe sides, sothat a displacement of the sleeperis-almost entirely out. of the question, but

nevertheless subsequent packing of the ballast for the purpose ofadjusting the rail is possible. Besides this the object of the inventionis to simplify the construction of the whole system of sleepers and theconnection between sleeper and rail. For this purpose the sleeper isbuilt up of a number of parts, and consists in general of two supportingmembers connected by distance pieces and spaced at such a distance fromeaclr'other that the ballast can befilled from above into the spacebetween the supporting members which are more or less of channel or.similar section and are arranged with their flanges oppositely disposedto one another. The lower part of thechannel shaped supporting membersof the sleeper is formed in such manner thatthere is a space between themembers of substantially trapezoidal or similar form open above for thegreater part of its length. A sleeper is thus obtalned of. greater lowerand upper breadth,-

of greater height-and having a greater bearingrsurface' for the rails.Further, it is possible to fill in the ballast from above through thebroad space between the two si-lpportingt members and to thoroughlydistribute and temp it down, so that the sleeper rests firmly on theballast and an unusually g-reat amount of ballast is embraced by thesleeper on both longitudinal sidesof the same;-the sleeper isthus ableto an unusual degree to resist forces which tend to cause creeping onsections of the track where the brake-is applied, and to transmit said;forces to: the ballast. Besides this the While retaining the samedistance between supporting points of the rails from seat to: seat.v Itwill therefore be seen that a sleeper is obtained in which.thebearingsurfaces, and namely both the horizontal and saddle-shapedbearing surface is considerably increased and it .is easily possible toad just the height of thesleeper by raising it by means of a tampingpick and at the same time filling. in ballast from above and packing thesametight. Thus a tightly packed and inclosed bedding of ballast ofpneumatic form is obtained, the supporting capacity of which is furtherstrengthened by the. ballast packed up at the sides. It is furtherpossible with, this invention and without aifectingtheadjustability ofthe sleepers to fill in l through-one half of a two-part sleeperaccording to the invention, said section being tio'ns of the sleeper, sothat to a certain ex tent a sort formed.

' Inthedrawings various formsof the inyentionare shown by way ofexample. a Figure 1 shows in full lines a cross-section through oneconstruction'of the-sleeper according t'o'the invention, in which therail is fixed by means of simple clamping plates. Fig. 'il' hows acentral longitudinal section on the -line GH of Fig. 3. f Fig. dis, a

plan view'v of one half of a portion of the,

15 Y Fig. 5 isa section on the line'C-D, and Fig.

track. .gFig 4 isa section onthe line' A' -B,

dis a section on the' line EF of Fig. 3. Figs. 7-10 show to a largerscale a special arrangement for firmly holding the railon the sleeper bymeans of sprmg-hooks:--

Figs. 7 and 8 showing the spring-hooks in two difierent positions,partly in section on the-lines I- -K of Figs. 9 and 10 respectively, andFigs. '9: and 10 showing central sections through the rail andspring-hook device, cor

responding. to Figs. 7 and 8. Figs. 11 and 12 represent in plan andsection a gage. 1 clamp of known type, while Figs. 13 and M show inside-elevation and in erosssection the arrangement of a railoint on asleeper according. to the invention. i Fig. '15

' shows in cross-section and Fig. 16 in longivice. Fig. 17 is alongitudi'n'a tudinal section on the line L--M of Fig. a combinedspring-hook and age-clamp delsectional view similar to Fig. 16 showing amodified form of combined spring-hook and gage-clamp device. Fig. 18shows diagrammatically various examples of the supporting members of themulti-part sleeper according to the invention.

The sleeper consists substantially of the two channel-shaped supportingmembers 1,

' (Figs. 1+1?) or similarly shaped supporting.

members (Fig. 18.) whose webs 2 are. placed facing each other, whiletheir lower flanges 3 are inclined outwardly or curved (see Fig. 18), sothat between the two upporting portions a'space 4 of s'ubstanti'alltrapezoidal, orsimilar shape is formed. lhe two sl ps porting members 1of the sleeper'are held it v proper distance apart by means of,preferably, four or five, short pieces of ordinary channel iron 5, andare held together by means of bolts 6 which at the same time passthrough the channelirons 5. The webs of thechannel irons 5 lie withtheirupper surfaces flush with the upper flanges'of the supporting members 1.A plate 7 extends over the upper flanges of the supporting members 1 andthe web of the channel irons 5, said plate having its ends 8 bent overthe supporting members 1 and being attachedto the channel iron by meansofa rivet 9 or the like.

of concrete under-sleeper is 'super-ele-vation. be arranged in themiddle of the built-up sleeper and ordinary'flat fish-plates can be I iThe lower ends of the supporting members 1 of the sleeper can be .formedeither as shown by the'full line '10 in'Fig. 1, or extend. .uerticallydownwardly. In order to render the use of special soleplatcsunnecessarythe two ends of the sleeper are arranged so as to have the usualoa-h-tof l in 20 as particularly shown in Fig. 2. In curves the outerends of the sleepers are laid higher to give the necessary he jointsof'the rails can em loyed.

- 11 place of theordinary clamping plates 13 (Fig.1)? gage clamp plates14 of known type are preferably used to allow of ad- 'ustmentofgageofthe rails 12, as shown in ,igsf Zgfi-arid 5 and'espe'cially in Figs.11

and fllhese gage elamps are of circular form and are each" provided withan out weirdly-extending rib orflange 15'. They are else-each providedwith an eccentrie'hole through which the bolt 16 passes, said boltfixing the gage clamp to the supporting member ass thebui-lt up,sleeper. The gageclamp-.14 is prevented from turning on the bolt 16 1);means of a key 17 The foot of the rail is kept down by the flange 1.5,while theeoeentrio arrangement of'the bolt allows oi adjusting the gageof the rails in straight or' curved sections by adjusting the gageclamp14 with thehelp of a tool engaging in the slots '14P The design of thegageclamps" enables the holes for the'bolts 16 to be similarly arrangedin all the sleeper parts and owing to the spring action of thespring-hooks .18 hereinafter described the gage ean'be adjusted withoutloosening the to a. larger scale in Figs/$40. These springhooks 18'whichare made of best quality steel lie between the two supporting members 1of the sleeper and hold the foot of the rail on. both sides. They arepassed through thejspace-between the supporting members 1 of y thesleeper and are brought on to the foot of'the rail by having their jawssprung apart. For this purpose the upper portions of the spring-hooksare provided with holes '19 in; order to allow of pins of any suitablethe rails to the sleepers 5001- being inserted therein to spring apartthe jaws. After the" spring-hooks have spring-hook then'assumessubstantially the position shown'in Fig. 9. 'Thereupon a bolt 20'ispassedthrough corresponding circular holfesf2'l in. the webs ofthe"supporting members 1. The" bolt has the form shown particularly in Figs.710, 2'. 6-, it has a cylindrical part 2% adjacent its head 22 and acylindrical part 25 adjacent its threaded end 23,

but the middle portion of the bolt is elliptical. Moreover, its head-22is, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, of prismatic form and is provided with aslot 26 for the introduction of a spanner or key, and is also providedwith a" chamfer 27. After the bolt has been brought into the-positionshown in Fig. 7, but before it is drawn right through, it is turnedthrough ,by means of a tool in troduced in the slot 26, into theposition shown in Fig. 8, so that'the larger diameter of the centralelliptical cross-section isvertical. The spring-lumks 18 are'thcrebysubjected to a strain and press the rails firmly on to the supportingmembers 1. Hereupon the bolt is pushed right through, "so that chamfer27 of its head 22 rests against the inclined flange 3 ofone of thesupporting members 1 of the sleeper and then the nut 28 istightened up.i

If it is requiredto arrange a rail-joint on a sleeper according to thisinvention, a channel-iron 29 is fixed by means of bolts or rivets 30 inthe space between the two supporting members 1 of the sleeper (see Figs.13 and 1%). The web of this channel iron is cut away with the exceptionof a portion equal to the breadth of the rail-foot, as shown in Fig. 11, so that the spring-hooks 18 .grip the rail-foot and the rails canrest tudinally, especially in curves.

Figs. 15 to 17 show two diflierent forms of acoinbined gage widening andclamping device. The channel irons 5 fixed between the webs 2 of thesupporting members 1 of the two-part sleeper have the form shown inFigs. 16 and 17, 2'. e., the channel irons 5 are somewhat longer thanthose described above, and a portion is cut away from their webs at bothends so that the flanges project laterally beyond the web portion asshown at 31. The fastening of the rails is effected by means of springsteel clamps 32, which in the position shown in Figs. 16 and 17 gripabove the rail foot and under the web 5 of the channe'lirons. .In theform according to Figs. 15 and 16 the underneath side of one of thelimbs of thesteel clamps is provided with a nose-piece 33 which, asshown in the cross-section Fig. 16, bears against the rail foot. Theattachment of the steel springclamps to the channel iron 5 is effectedby means ofbolts34, which pass through correspon'dingholes in the steelclamps 32 and web'5. The adjustment of the gage is carried out in this Iform of construction by shifting the channel iron 5. For this purposeslots are provided'in the webs 2 of the supporting members 1 in thechannel irons 5 or their projecting ends 31 through which either roundor square bolts 35 pass. If the bolts 35 are circular in cross-sectionthey are provided with a similar head to the-head 22 of thebolts 20, asshown in Figs. 7 and 8.

In theconstruction shown in Figs. 15 and 16 there is a square bolt 35.The adjustment of the gage is eiiected by simply shifting the channeliron 5 together with the rail fixed J uponit over the bolt 35. The gagerequired at any'particular point is fixed by filling-in the slots in thefiangcs3l and the webs 2 of the supporting members 1 with wedges 36,which are driven through toward the outside and which fix the positionof the gage adjusting device. The wedges 36 may consist of simple ironstrips which. are bent over at both ends to keep them in position.

-The construction shown in Fig. 17 is specially suitable when the steelclamps have only a small amount of spring action and less importance isattached to the tightening up of the bolts 34. In this case the steelclamps 32 are formed with ho0k-portions37 which can be held together bymeans of bolts 38. Otherwise the arrangement of this combined gagewidening and clamping de vice is the same as that of the constructionaccording to Figs. 15 and 16. If it is desired to lessen the thicknessof the upper broad flange of the supporting members 1 on which the railrests, it is advisable to arrange strengthening iron straps 39 (Fig.17), adjacent to the rail bearing surface, said straps havingytheir endsbent over at the edges of the upper flange of the support.

ing members 1 as shown at 40.

By the adoption of the construction shown in Figs. 1.6 and 17 a smallernumber of parts are required. Moreover, there is no longer anvdifference between the arrangement 'of the sleepers used underrail-joints and those used elsewhere. The attachment of the steel clamps32- is easier to carry out than that of the hooks 18 in the other formsvthe. whole design of the railway-sleeper acters Patent is 1. Asaddle-shaped built-up iron railway sleeper comprising two supportingmembers of substantially channel section spaced apart and having theirflanges oppositely disposed to one another, said members being of suchshape as to form a space between them of greater width'at its lower partthan at its upper, part, and distance pieces connecting said members atsuch a' distance from each other that ballast can be filled in fromabove into the said space.

2. A saddle-shaped built-up iron railway sleeper comprising twochannel-shaped supportin'g'members each having an upper horizontalframe, a substantially vertical web and a lower outwardly and downwardlydirected flange, the flanges of the one member-being oppositely disposedto the flanges of the other member and distance pieces connecting thesaid members at such a distance from each other that ballast can befilled in from'above into the said space. 1

3. A saddle-shaped built-up iron railway sleeper comprising twochannel-shaped supporting members each having an upper horizontalflange, a substantially vertical web and a lower outwardly anddownwardly directed flange terminating in a horizontal portion, theflanges of the one member being oppositely disposed to the flanges ofthe other member and distance pieces connecting the said members at sucha distance from each other that ballas't can be filled infrom above intothe said space.

4. A built-up iron railway-slee er comprising two supporting members 0substantially channel section having their webs disposed inwardly andfacing each other, chan:

in the webs of said members, each. of said bolts having an enlarged headprovided with a chamfer adapted to engage one of the inclined flanges.

6. In combination with a track rail, a sleeper comprising twochannel-shaped members having their ,webs disposed inwardly and'facingeach other,'a channel iron between said webs, bolts passing through saidwebs andthrough the flanges of said chan nel iron through slots therein,and wedges for securing said bolts in said slots.

. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

I MAX MATTHAEI. Witnesses I WOLDEMAR Haurtr, HENRY HASPER.

